gifted me with a bit of insight into robotics as an element of culture. In effect, the
introductory class in programming methodology is done with the aid of Karel's Robot,
picured below.
The reference is to a 1920 play byCzech writer Karel Capek, Rossum's Universal Robots,
in which we find the word robot for the first time. It is close to the Czech word for forced
or serf labor, but the German Wiki cites the influence of K's brother Josef, an inventor. RUR is
the name of the firm in which the clones work, and they rebel and eventually destroy
humanity but not without first finding love.
German Wikipedia furher informs us that 'Rossum' is close to the Czech word rozum which
means undertanding or intelligence. And that the theme of the play picks up on the notion
of the Golem of jewish tradition. A very rich tradition it is, going back to biblical times.
The Golem is a creature made of mud, imbued with life but unable to speak: it is brought
to life by invoking one of the many names of God but can be deactivated, for example by
removing the first letter(A) x, the aleph, form it's name.
I could happily spend my saturday on all this, but I think the true homework assignement
is downloading Eclipse, The IDE for Java. Not to mention my ongoing travails with Xna
gaming.
The honor rule for computing is do not copy code, or if you do, cite. The latter practice will
get you a zero grade but keep you out of trouble.
Brings back old flopsweat memories...But I actually designed the following as my vilain ship
yesterday, honest.
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